所长 meaning in English
director; head of an institute, office or station
Meaning of 所长
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- director; head of an institute, office or station
- what one is good at; one's strong point
How to use 所长
As suǒzhǎng, it is a title for the head of an institute, a police station (派出所 pàichūsuǒ), or a research office, and it often follows a surname, like 王所长 (Wáng suǒzhǎng). Example: 所长今天不在办公室。(Suǒzhǎng jīntiān bú zài bàngōngshì.) The director is not in the office today.
所 (suǒ) means a place or office, and 长 (zhǎng) means the one in charge. Put them together and you get the person in charge of the place: the director.
Common mistake: Learners often read 长 the same way in both senses. It is zhǎng for the director but cháng for one's strong point, as in 发挥所长 (fāhuī suǒcháng), to make the most of one's strengths.
所长 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Stroke order for each character
Open a character for its meaning, components and more words.
所 suǒ · actually · 8 strokes
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
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- 8
长 cháng · long · 4 strokes
- 1
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- 4
Related words
Words that share a character with 所长.
| 所以 | suǒyǐ | therefore; as a result |
| 所有 | suǒyǒu | all; to have; to possess; to own |
| 长大 | zhǎngdà | to grow up |
| 队长 | duìzhǎng | captain; team leader |
| 市长 | shìzhǎng | mayor |
| 校长 | xiàozhǎng | (college, university) president; headmaster |
| 家长 | jiāzhǎng | head of a household; family head |
| 院长 | yuànzhǎng | the head of an institution whose name ends in 院[yuan4]; chair of a board; university presi |
| 组长 | zǔzhǎng | group leader |
| 班长 | bānzhǎng | class monitor; squad leader |
| 部长 | bùzhǎng | head of a (government etc) department; section chief |
| 成长 | chéngzhǎng | to mature; to grow |
Questions about 所长
What does 所长 mean?
所长 (suǒzhǎng) means "director; head of an institute, office or station" and is used as a noun.
How do you write 所长?
所长 is made of 2 characters: 所 (8 strokes), 长 (4 strokes). That is 12 strokes in total.
Is 所长 an HSK word?
Yes. 所长 is on the HSK 3 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
How is 所长 written in traditional Chinese?
In traditional characters, 所长 is written 所長.
How is 所长 different from 校长 or 市长?
They all use 长 (zhǎng) for the head of something. 所长 heads an institute or station, 校长 (xiàozhǎng) heads a school, and 市长 (shìzhǎng) heads a city.
Can I call someone 所长 directly when I talk to them?
Yes. In Chinese, job titles work as forms of address, so you can say 所长好 (suǒzhǎng hǎo) or use the surname, like 李所长 (Lǐ suǒzhǎng). This sounds polite and natural.